3000 and 2000 B.C. - Urban civilization began in the region occupied by modern Afghanistan.
550 B.C. until 331 B.C - Documents date from the early part of the Iranian Achaemenian Dynasty, which controlled the region.
Between 330 and 327 B.C. - Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenian emperor Darius III. Greek cultural influence continued with the Seleucids. Mauryan Empire of India gained control of southern Afghanistan, introducting Buddhism.
Third Century B.C.- Nomadic Kushans established an empire that became a cultural and commercial center which lasted until the seventh century.
Seventh Century A.D.- the region was fragmented and under the general protection of the Iranian Sassanian Empire.
The Islamic Conquests
637 A.D. - Arab Muslims defeated the Persian Army of the Sassanians at the Battle of Qadisiya. In the ensuing hundred years Arab Muslims proceeded to conquer Afghan tribes, introducing Islam.
Tenth century - The rule of the Arab Abbasid Dynasty and its successor in Central Asia, the Samanid dynasty, had crumbled. The Ghaznavid Dynasty, an offshoot of the Samanids, then became the first great Islamic dynasty to rule in Afghanistan.
Mongol Conquests
1220- All of Central Asia fell to the Mongol forces of Genghis Khan.
1380s - Timur consolidated and expanded the existing Mongol Empire. Timur’s descendants ruled Afghanistan until the early sixteenth century.
The Pashtun Rulers
1504 - The region fell under a the Mughal empire of northern India, who for the next two centuries contested Afghan territory with the Iranian Safavi Dynasty.
1747 - With the death of the Safavi leader Nadir Shah. Indigenous Pashtuns, who became known as the Durrani, began a period of at least nominal rule in Afghanistan that lasted until 1978. The first Durrani ruler, Ahmad Shah, known as the founder of the Afghan nation, united the Pashtun tribes and by 1760 built an empire extending to Delhi and the Arabian Sea.
1772 -The empire fragmented after Ahmad Shah’s death.
1826 - Dost Mohammad, the leader of the Pashtun Muhammadzai tribe, restored order.
The Great Game
The Great Game was a century-long contest for domination of Central Asia and Afghanistan between Russia and Britain. During this period, Afghan rulers were able to maintain virtual independence, although some compromises were necessary.
1839–42 - The First Anglo-Afghan War - The British deposed Dost Mohammad, but they abandoned their Afghan garrisons in 1842. In the following decades, Russian forces approached the northern border of Afghanistan.
1878 - Second Anglo-Afghan War - The British invaded and held most of Afghanistan.
1880 - Abdur Rahman, a Durrani, began a 21-year reign that saw the balancing of British and Russian interests, the consolidation of the Afghan tribes, and the reorganization of civil administration into what is considered the modern Afghan state.
1893 - British secured the Durand Line, dividing Afghanistan from British colonial territory to the southeast and sowing the seeds of future tensions over the division of the Pashtun tribes.
1901 - 19 - Abdur Rahman’s son Habibullah continued his father’s administrative reforms and maintained Afghanistan’s neutrality in World War I.
1919 - After third Anglo-Afghan war against British forces trying to bring country under their sphere of influence, Afghanistan regains their independence.
1926 - Amanullah proclaims himself king and attempts to introduce social and religious reforms leading to opposition from conservative forces. The people most opposed were the tribal people, although those people most affected by his reforms were urban dwellers not universally opposed to his policies, rather than the tribes
1929 - King Amanullah flees after civil unrest over his reforms. He crossed the border to India and went into exile in Italy, where he then died in 1960.
1933 - Zahir Shah becomes king and Afghanistan remains a monarchy for next four decades.
1953 - General Mohammed Daud becomes prime minister. He turns to the Soviet Union for economic and military assistance. He introduces a number of social reforms, such as abolition of purdah (practice of secluding women from public view).
1963 - Mohammed Daud forced to resign as prime minister.
1964 - Constitutional monarchy introduced – with its induction came political polarization and struggles with power.
1973 - Mohammed Daud took back power in a coup and declares a republic. He plays off the USSR against western powers. His style alienates left-wing factions who join forces against him.
1978 - Saur Revolution – Military units loyal to the PDPA (Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) assaulted the Afghan Presidential palace, General Daud was overthrown and killed. He appointed Nur Muhammed Taraki as President of Afghanistan. At the same time, conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders who objected to social changes begin armed revolt in the countryside, Nuristan to be exact.
1979 - There was then a power struggle between leftist leaders Hafizullah Amin and Taraki in Kabul, in which Taraki dies and Amin wins. Revolts in the countryside continue and Afghan armies collapse. Soviet Union sends in troops to remove Amin and execute him.
1980 - Babrak Karmal, leader of the People's Democratic Party Parcham faction, is installed as ruler, he backed by Soviet troops. Anti-regime resistance intensifies with various mujahideen groups fighting Soviet forces. US, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia supply money and arms.
1985 - Mujahideen are brought together in Pakistan to form alliance against Soviet forces. Half of Afghan population now estimated to be displaced by war, with many fleeing to neighboring Iran or Pakistan. New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says he will withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
1986 – The US begins supplying mujahideen with Stinger missiles, enabling them to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships. Babrak Karmal replaced by Najibullah as head of Soviet-backed regime.
1988 - Afghanistan, USSR, the US and Pakistan sign peace accords called the Geneva Accords, which included a timetable for withdrawing Soviet armed forces.
1989 - Last Soviet troops leave, but civil war continues as mujahideen push to overthrow Najibullah.
1991 - US and USSR agree to end military aid to both sides.
1992 - Resistance closes in on Kabul and Najibullah falls from power. Rival militias vie for influence. Mujahideen factions agree on formation of a government with ethnic Tajik, Burhanuddin Rabbani, proclaimed president.
1994 – The Taliban movement began to form in a small village between Lashkar Gah and Kandashar. They emerged as major challenge to Rabbani government.
1996 - Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce hard-line version of Islam, banning women from work, and introducing Islamic punishments, which include stoning to death and amputations. Rabbani flees to join anti-Taliban northern alliance. Former president who was under protection from the UN in Kabul, was tortured, castrated, and executed by Taliban forces.
1997 - Under the Taliban, opium production is significantly reduced.
October 7, 2001 - British and American forces commence air raids on Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. This marks the beginning of the War on Terror, a campaign to go after terrorism abroad. Started in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
November, 2001 - Taliban is overrun and forced to retreat out of Kabul and other cities like Mazar-i-Sharif.
December, 2001 - International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is created by the UN to help support the newly installed Karzai administration.
2002 - Taliban strategy shifts entirely to survival and rebuilding of their forces in the Mountainous Durand Line. A border region with Pakistan. Al Qaeda operatives are assumed to be hiding here too.
2003 - A Loya Jirga (founding document) creates in Afghanistan an Islamic Republic with three branches of Government: Executive, Legislative, Judicial.
2003 - NATO takes control of ISAF
2008 - Taliban is understood to be regaining their strength and building up their forces again.
2008 - Reports begin to surface that show opium production has surpassed previous levels in the nations history. Northern Alliance (whom the United States backs) is mostly connected to this rampant drug trade.
2009 - Widespread allegations of voter fraud led Karzai's opponent to drop out of the election in the run-off phase, claiming that the playing field was unfair.
2009 - Transparency International rated Afghanistan as the second most corrupt country on earth.
As of 2009 - There were 5 million students enrolled in schools across the nation.
2010 - Hamid Karzai (President of Afghanistan) is quoted as saying that peace talks with Taliban leaders will be necessary and likely.
July 25, 2010 - A website, Wikileaks.org, released the "Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010". This collection of once highly classified but now leaked US Army and US Special Forces documents has garnered a lot of criticism of officials from Washington D.C. to Islamabad. So far, the most controversial issue is over documents alleging that the United States is giving money to the Pakistani government which is then providing funds to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Pre-Islamic Period
3000 and 2000 B.C. - Urban civilization began in the region occupied by modern Afghanistan.
550 B.C. until 331 B.C - Documents date from the early part of the Iranian Achaemenian Dynasty, which controlled the region.
Between 330 and 327 B.C. - Alexander the Great defeated the Achaemenian emperor Darius III. Greek cultural influence continued with the Seleucids. Mauryan Empire of India gained control of southern Afghanistan, introducting Buddhism.
Third Century B.C. - Nomadic Kushans established an empire that became a cultural and commercial center which lasted until the seventh century.
Seventh Century A.D. - the region was fragmented and under the general protection of the Iranian Sassanian Empire.
The Islamic Conquests
637 A.D. - Arab Muslims defeated the Persian Army of the Sassanians at the Battle of Qadisiya. In the ensuing hundred years Arab Muslims proceeded to conquer Afghan tribes, introducing Islam.
Tenth century - The rule of the Arab Abbasid Dynasty and its successor in Central Asia, the Samanid dynasty, had crumbled. The Ghaznavid Dynasty, an offshoot of the Samanids, then became the first great Islamic dynasty to rule in Afghanistan.
Mongol Conquests
1220 - All of Central Asia fell to the Mongol forces of Genghis Khan.
1380s - Timur consolidated and expanded the existing Mongol Empire. Timur’s descendants ruled Afghanistan until the early sixteenth century.
The Pashtun Rulers
1504 - The region fell under a the Mughal empire of northern India, who for the next two centuries contested Afghan territory with the Iranian Safavi Dynasty.
1747 - With the death of the Safavi leader Nadir Shah. Indigenous Pashtuns, who became known as the Durrani, began a period of at least nominal rule in Afghanistan that lasted until 1978. The first Durrani ruler, Ahmad Shah, known as the founder of the Afghan nation, united the Pashtun tribes and by 1760 built an empire extending to Delhi and the Arabian Sea.
1772 -The empire fragmented after Ahmad Shah’s death.
1826 - Dost Mohammad, the leader of the Pashtun Muhammadzai tribe, restored order.
The Great Game
The Great Game was a century-long contest for domination of Central Asia and Afghanistan between Russia and Britain. During this period, Afghan rulers were able to maintain virtual independence, although some compromises were necessary.
1839–42 - The First Anglo-Afghan War - The British deposed Dost Mohammad, but they abandoned their Afghan garrisons in 1842. In the following decades, Russian forces approached the northern border of Afghanistan.
1878 - Second Anglo-Afghan War - The British invaded and held most of Afghanistan.
1880 - Abdur Rahman, a Durrani, began a 21-year reign that saw the balancing of British and Russian interests, the consolidation of the Afghan tribes, and the reorganization of civil administration into what is considered the modern Afghan state.
1893 - British secured the Durand Line, dividing Afghanistan from British colonial territory to the southeast and sowing the seeds of future tensions over the division of the Pashtun tribes.
1901 - 19 - Abdur Rahman’s son Habibullah continued his father’s administrative reforms and maintained Afghanistan’s neutrality in World War I.
1919 - After third Anglo-Afghan war against British forces trying to bring country under their sphere of influence, Afghanistan regains their independence.
1926 - Amanullah proclaims himself king and attempts to introduce social and religious reforms leading to opposition from conservative forces. The people most opposed were the tribal people, although those people most affected by his reforms were urban dwellers not universally opposed to his policies, rather than the tribes
1929 - King Amanullah flees after civil unrest over his reforms. He crossed the border to India and went into exile in Italy, where he then died in 1960.
1933 - Zahir Shah becomes king and Afghanistan remains a monarchy for next four decades.
1953 - General Mohammed Daud becomes prime minister. He turns to the Soviet Union for economic and military assistance. He introduces a number of social reforms, such as abolition of purdah (practice of secluding women from public view).
1963 - Mohammed Daud forced to resign as prime minister.
1964 - Constitutional monarchy introduced – with its induction came political polarization and struggles with power.
1973 - Mohammed Daud took back power in a coup and declares a republic. He plays off the USSR against western powers. His style alienates left-wing factions who join forces against him.
1978 - Saur Revolution – Military units loyal to the PDPA (Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) assaulted the Afghan Presidential palace, General Daud was overthrown and killed. He appointed Nur Muhammed Taraki as President of Afghanistan. At the same time, conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders who objected to social changes begin armed revolt in the countryside, Nuristan to be exact.
1979 - There was then a power struggle between leftist leaders Hafizullah Amin and Taraki in Kabul, in which Taraki dies and Amin wins. Revolts in the countryside continue and Afghan armies collapse. Soviet Union sends in troops to remove Amin and execute him.
1980 - Babrak Karmal, leader of the People's Democratic Party Parcham faction, is installed as ruler, he backed by Soviet troops. Anti-regime resistance intensifies with various mujahideen groups fighting Soviet forces. US, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia supply money and arms.
1985 - Mujahideen are brought together in Pakistan to form alliance against Soviet forces. Half of Afghan population now estimated to be displaced by war, with many fleeing to neighboring Iran or Pakistan. New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says he will withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
1986 – The US begins supplying mujahideen with Stinger missiles, enabling them to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships. Babrak Karmal replaced by Najibullah as head of Soviet-backed regime.
1988 - Afghanistan, USSR, the US and Pakistan sign peace accords called the Geneva Accords, which included a timetable for withdrawing Soviet armed forces.
1989 - Last Soviet troops leave, but civil war continues as mujahideen push to overthrow Najibullah.
1991 - US and USSR agree to end military aid to both sides.
1992 - Resistance closes in on Kabul and Najibullah falls from power. Rival militias vie for influence. Mujahideen factions agree on formation of a government with ethnic Tajik, Burhanuddin Rabbani, proclaimed president.
1994 – The Taliban movement began to form in a small village between Lashkar Gah and Kandashar. They emerged as major challenge to Rabbani government.
1996 - Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce hard-line version of Islam, banning women from work, and introducing Islamic punishments, which include stoning to death and amputations. Rabbani flees to join anti-Taliban northern alliance. Former president who was under protection from the UN in Kabul, was tortured, castrated, and executed by Taliban forces.
1997 - Under the Taliban, opium production is significantly reduced.
October 7, 2001 - British and American forces commence air raids on Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. This marks the beginning of the War on Terror, a campaign to go after terrorism abroad. Started in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
November, 2001 - Taliban is overrun and forced to retreat out of Kabul and other cities like Mazar-i-Sharif.
December, 2001 - International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is created by the UN to help support the newly installed Karzai administration.
2002 - Taliban strategy shifts entirely to survival and rebuilding of their forces in the Mountainous Durand Line. A border region with Pakistan. Al Qaeda operatives are assumed to be hiding here too.
2003 - A Loya Jirga (founding document) creates in Afghanistan an Islamic Republic with three branches of Government: Executive, Legislative, Judicial.
2003 - NATO takes control of ISAF
2008 - Taliban is understood to be regaining their strength and building up their forces again.
2008 - Reports begin to surface that show opium production has surpassed previous levels in the nations history. Northern Alliance (whom the United States backs) is mostly connected to this rampant drug trade.
2009 - Widespread allegations of voter fraud led Karzai's opponent to drop out of the election in the run-off phase, claiming that the playing field was unfair.
2009 - Transparency International rated Afghanistan as the second most corrupt country on earth.
As of 2009 - There were 5 million students enrolled in schools across the nation.
2010 - Hamid Karzai (President of Afghanistan) is quoted as saying that peace talks with Taliban leaders will be necessary and likely.
July 25, 2010 - A website, Wikileaks.org, released the "Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010". This collection of once highly classified but now leaked US Army and US Special Forces documents has garnered a lot of criticism of officials from Washington D.C. to Islamabad. So far, the most controversial issue is over documents alleging that the United States is giving money to the Pakistani government which is then providing funds to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Afghanistan, August 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ 1162108.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Timeline_of_Afghanistan